Minimalism in life is all about concentrating on what is crucial for us to live contentedly and seeding willingness in our conscious for stemming out thoughts & physical possessions from our life that distract us.
The long-tailed lockdowns witnessed by the human race last year have added a new dimension to our lives. Less is more, we heard it many times, an age-old simplistic style of living culture followed by many in Japan and have been a buzzing mantra for some time. However, most of us had a first-hand experience of this life during lockdowns.
The constraints compelled us to control urges towards running to the malls, splurging our money in superfluous buying. Another bewitching spell was of attractive offers cast by the eCommerce sites. Everything inessential paused under lockdown, a blessing in disguise.
Listicle items of necessary goods purchase and staying at home became the new norm of life. We became conscious of eschewing any wastage – Baking a cake from the overripe bananas, a dish out of leftovers, and even squashing the toothpaste to the last squeeze, was a common sight in many homes. “Necessity is the mother of invention’’, well said by Plato and best applied during lockdowns, introduced many of us with a new facet of a Minimalistic lifestyle.
Lockdowns may have enhanced the growth of digital platforms but parallelly have revitalized channels of real pleasures through simple ways – music, reading, knitting, DIY activities, cooking, yoga were much-appreciated activities. Further, we realized the redundancy of multiple collections in our houses that add no value but high entropy in our lives.
The baton of Minimalism which usually gets associated with being beyond 50s age has been observing the embryonic entry of Youth-the next Generation. A few reasons for oscillating away from a maximalist lifestyle are the deleterious impact of excessive consumerism on the environment, the financial turmoil worldwide & increased global social awareness.
However, the thing that intrigues many of us is how Minimalism offers life with less stress, fewer diversions, more freedom, and time for self & loved ones?.
Minimalism provides a panoramic perspective of simplified day-to-day life. A minimalistic lifestyle isn’t about a hermitage living with bare essentials, but an informed choice towards frugality. It is often confused with antimaterialism which is certainly not the case.
You don’t have to give up anything you intend to keep and value. Minimalism is not about keeping white-grey shaded bare walls and rooms with a minuscule set of things.
I love my house to feel like a home. To add colors to it, to exhibit my souvenirs, artifacts on counters, and pieces of furniture to enhance the beauty of my place. For me, the perception of minimalism is setting off on a journey of self-improvement. You learn to appreciate what you already own and dispose of anything that causes chaos in your well-being.
The key to real happiness lies in unlocking your real desires. Once discovered, cajole your mind to purge out trifling thoughts and create more space for true desires.
A messy room equals a messy mind –
A friend of mine was stressed out soul seeing stacks of books dusting in her shelf collected right from her childhood. The sentiments attached with memories were holding her back to let it go but unnecessarily weighing her mind. Finally, she decided to donate them to the neighborhood library and kept a few as reminiscence.
With all the physical clutter cleared, she had a relaxed state of mind and feels contented when sees her book being shared & read by others. Thenceforth, she continued the cleaning drive-by trimming down her wardrobe, kitchen, office, and other areas in the house stuffed with things not needed anymore. Radiant refraction of her home reflected positively on her well-being and her family.
What we see or perceive affects the behavioral pattern of our minds. Marie Kondo, a Japanese writer in her book ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo‘, states that clarity in the physical environment around us brings calmness, cognizance and stimulates our positive energies.
Collect memories not diamonds –
I know a friend who gives no expensive gift to his child on his birthday but replenishes with fun-frolic family vacations, outings, and dining. His son recounts each birthday by the memorable moments he had cherished happily in his heart for a lifetime. When you begin to shift your focus from possessing materialistically to memories, the space of your closet may shrink but create lifetime memories for you to keep smiling, which is priceless.
When you step into a minimalistic mindset, you save time, money, and effort to mine finer aspects of your life.
Collect the moments and not the things as they endorse your true self.
Buy less, choose well & make it last –
Consumerism is not bad, but reckless and mindless certainly is. Excessive consumerism shifts our concentration on materialistic upmanship. In the race of being a step ahead of others, we begin to evaluate our success markers with the number of materialistic possessions and tend to deplete our resources. Loans, debts of credit cards are common stories, causing mental stress and, in quest of paying off, you trade-off less time with your loved ones.
However, minimalistic consumerism does not imply ‘zero materialism’. I love to honor my commitments towards possessing worldly essentials like home, car, comforts that are essentials or fall in the category of convenience. But will draw out a red line towards splurging or wastages.
Must-Read: Sanskrit Non- Translatable, a Call for Correct Discourse
Be a Conscious consumer and think before shopping – Why do you need it? How will it be utilized? Where will it be kept?.
A minimalistic lifestyle is a continual journey of rediscovering life. We may not follow its ideology instantaneously, but with passing time, the principle of chaos to calm will brush our conscious and will have a sparkling impact on our well-being. By choosing Minimalism, I’m filling my life with stories to tell not, stuff to show.
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